Symptoms and Etiology of Anorexia Nervosa

By:  Kimberly Swanson, M.S. - Psychology, CNA

All over the world, there  are various views and ideology of what is considered beautiful especially when it comes to body images.  For example, in some African countries such as Nigeria,  a woman who has a few extra pounds or curves is considered attractive.  But in other countries such as the United States, being skinny  or thin is what is considered beautiful.  This strong powerful message of the standard of beauty is often times depicted in the media and is forever etched into the minds of women and female adolescents.  Professional models that grace the covers of fashion magazines are extremely thin and often times appear to be malnourished.  There have been some cases in the modeling industry where anorexia is a growing medical issue.  Some models starve themselves in an effort to try to keep up with the body image of the being extra thin.

"The average woman is 5”4’ and weighs 140 pounds. The average model is 5”11’ and weighs 117 pounds. Most fashion models are thinner than 98% of American women" (Smolak, 1996). 

History of Anorexia

Anorexia is not a new phenomenon that has occurred in modern times; it has been first identified in the late 1800’s by Charles Lasegue in Paris and Sir William Gull in London (Butcher, 2013).  This condition is more prevalent among women than men.    Tolman (1932) first developed the expectancy  theory in which “social  learning experiences” are developed into the ideology  that  a behavior has to be done continuously in order to fit into society.  There are many more current clinical studies done on the etiology of  anorexia (e.g. Eagles' et al., 2006, a case study on family composition in anorexia nervosa) and another modern research (e.g. Annus et al., 2008) on the etiology of eating disorders.  

Symptoms & DSM-5 Criterion for Anorexia

According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), there are three criterion for the symptoms of anorexia.  The three  major symptoms for the diagnosis for  anorexia in DSM-5 are:  1.  “Restriction of energy intake”, 2.  “Intense fear of gaining weight”,  and  Interruption of  “body weight  or shape experienced” (APA, 2013).   

Etiology of Anorexia

Current studies has shown that the cause of eating disorders stems from the social ideology  the  being in control of your weight in order to be thin is what  really matters (Hohlstein, Smith, & Atlas, 1998).  According to Stice (2002), expectancy theory  is the learned behaviors that is based  on the ideology that being thin is important and is needed  in order to boost confidence and self-worth.  It is believed that the family makeup is a major contributing factor in to eating disorders (Eagles et al., 2006).  There is a correlation in family structures such as biological and sociocultural factors when it comes to eating disorders (Eagles et al., 2006).

Before (Annus et al., 2008) study, it is believed that women with anorexia nervosa supported  the idea that in order to be thin is to restrict food intake.  The intervention of changing the patient’s mindset on “expectancy” has been met with the success in previous research.  Even though, studies do not show proof that changing mind sets or personal beliefs reduces anorexia, results from previous studies show consistency in the effectiveness in reducing patient’s negative attitudes and reactions (Annus et al., 2008). 

  

References

American Psychiatric Association. (2013).  Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5^th ed.).  Washington, DC:  Author.

Annus, A., Smith, G., Masters, K. (2008).  Manipulation of Thinness and Restricting Expectancies in the Etiology of Eating Disorders.  Psychology of Addictive Behaviors.  22(2), 278-287.

Brown, T. A., & Barlow, D. H. (2011).  Casebook in abnormal psychology (4^th ed.).  Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

Eagles, J., Johnston, M., & Millar, H. (2005). A case-control study of family composition in anorexia nervosa. The International Journal Of Eating Disorders,38(1), 49-54.

Hohlstein, L.E., Smith, G.T., & Atlas, J.G.  (1998).  An application of expectancy theory to eating disorders:   Development and validation of measures of eating and dieting expectancies.  Psychological Assessment, 10(1), 49-58.
Smolak L. (1996). National Eating Disorders Association/Next Door Neighbors puppet guide book.

Stice, E. (2002).  Risk and maintenance factors for eating  pathology:  A meta-analytic review.  Psychological Bulletin, 128(5), 825-848.

Toman, E.C. (1932).  Purposive behavior in animals and men.  New York:  Century.

Additional Source

The Alliance for Eating Disorders Awareness. (2015).  Eating disorder statistics.  Retreived from https://www.ndsu.edu/fileadmin/counseling/Eating_Disorder_Statistics.pdf.

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